Scientists have identified 181 California dams that may need to increase water flows to protect native fish downstream. The screening tool developed by the Center for Watershed Sciences at the University of California, Davis, to select “high-priority” dams may be particularly useful during drought years amid competing demands for water.

“It is unpopular in many circles to talk about providing more water for fish during this drought, but to the extent we care about not driving native fish to extinction, we need a strategy to keep our rivers flowing below dams,” said lead author Ted Grantham, a postdoctoral researcher at UC Davis during the study and currently a research scientist with the U.S. Geological Survey.

“The drought will have a major impact on the aquatic environment.” The study, published Oct. 15 in the journal BioScience, evaluated 753 large dams in California and screened them for evidence of altered water flows and damage to fish. About 25 percent, or 181, were identified as having flows that may be too low to sustain healthy fish populations. READ MORE »

Blame it on Global Warming, tainted run-off, failing economy, overly excessive building, or whatever you want, but researchers from UC Davis are predicting that the once pristine clear blue Lake Tahoe waters will, within a decade, be an algae filled mess as the climate changes the temperature of the water. We've already seen what human activity can do to our water with the Clear Lake in Lake County and many other water ways and bodies of water. Read the full article at http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_8684690